That time Goff met Arafat

August 21, 2018

By Anarchist History of New Zealand

May 2003, Labour 5.0 Minister of Foreign Affairs, Phil Goff, in that capacity, got New Zealand involved in the Israel-Palestine crisis. Not in any serious way, mind you, it was more of a virtue-signalling exhibition to his fans back home and probably the realisation of a student fan boy’s ambition to hang out with members of the PLO*.

Representing New Zealand, the Minister offered the Palestinians and the Israelis some New Zealand peacekeepers. Blatantly facetious and never going to happen, yet calculated to play well to Goff’s friends at home for whom the words were intended.

Fine and good for Citizen Goff to do that, but this is why we can’t make anyone our ‘Foreign Minister’ because they abuse the role to make personal political statements to advance their personal popularity. Goff got his photo opportunity and hand-holding with Yasser Arafat and why should he care what impact that has on the region or on New Zealand’s international standing?

Goff, currently Mayor of Auckland, returned with a “horrible” gift from Arafat which he has since disposed of as “rubbish,” he says; A gaudy scale model of Bethlehem. The whole encounter is a politician’s party anecdote now to share with champagne socialists over laughs.

In my opinion there’s something suicidal about Labour Ministers of Foreign Affairs. They seem to want to open New Zealand up to destruction, in particular by antagonising the only power protecting us from certain invasion: America. One of the first things Labour 4.0 did was to shred the Treaty of ANZUS. Foreign Minister Lange preferred to virtue signal to his electorate by getting picky about the nuclear-powered technology the USA used for protecting us. Next time, with Labour version 5.0, Foreign Minister Goff risked that vital relationship even more by antagonising the USA in kissing up to Arafat.

God Defend New Zealand if the Americans ever take ‘Atlas Shrugged’ to heart and get sick of our statist ingratitude.

Note: I have a short radio commentary of the above incident from May 2003. See video on Facebook post here.

—
PLO- Palestine Liberation Organization, An “organization founded in 1964 with the purpose of the “liberation of Palestine” through armed struggle, with much of its violence aimed at Israeli civilians”- Wiki

Ref. Herald, 27/5/2003

Image ref. Newshub